So I've been debating on a switch or spey rod to get for largemouth near me. I mainly fish ponds and lakes, but the shoreline is almost always trees and bushes. I'm going spey over switch because I'd rather go with the extreme and have great length 2 handed casts, than mediocre two handed and mediocre one handed. So my question:

For stillwater largemouth bass and similar species (I know this isnt what they are designed for), whats a good model spey rod and line system?

I'm not looking to break the bank on this one, especially since it will be my first two hander. Just want a reliable rod that wont snap in half when I cast it.

Can you also suggest a rod wt and line wt for this type of target species? Additionally, do I need a specific reel, or will any large arbor do fine?

I had the same idea and I used a switch rod to achieve this. I fought bass with a 7 weight just fine, without any effort. But, it's going to depend on the size flies you're casting. I could toss weighted clousers just fine. As long as I kept the line moving, I could cast larger pike flies just fine as well. What you're going to run into is your line system choice. So, my first question is what flies are you going to be using?

I use a little bit of everything. Foam frogs, poppers, gurglers, streamers, hoppers, clousers, mice, crayfish, cone head leeches and buggers. If I had to choose my most used, I'd say frogs, mice, weighted buggers, and foam insects like dragonflies.

None of those are very heavy. You can get them up with pretty much any line. I have tossed really big Pike flies with mine and I'm not using a Skagit head or anything. The idea with Skagit is that it's heavy right uo to the tip. In a traditional spey line they have a long front taper. In theory you need a bunch of weight on the end of the line to pick up a heavy fly. From the sounds of it you don't need a Skagit line. Now the question is how far do you want to be able to put those flies? I can drop a large clouser 140' away with a short belly line on my 15'ers.

Keep in mind that I can throw this on my 8/9 deer creek with a Trevor Morgan line just fine, but with my seven weight and a mid belly spey, I can't throw the same flies. Mass throws mass. But with a skagit line on my 7wt, I could throw those big flies once again.

Go with an echo tr or a tfo deer creek. I have a rio skagit line, but I would go with an airflow. I think it's a better line, honestly. With the rod weight, I would go with a 7 weight for bass. Some people will agree some wont. However, the 8 will allow you to throw a bit bigger fly...

I don't think that the flies you have in mind and a 120' cast the skagit is the best choice. As for rods, my favorite rod on the planet is my Meiser. However, they are not cheap, but nothing about spey rods are. TFO has rods that are much less spendy then the Meisers and have the advantage of still being designed by him. If you want to hit 120' you are going to want to have a fairly long and heavier weight rod. Unless you are a really great caster right away that is. I'd go at least 13' 6" and 8 or 9 wt. The thing with fishing a lake or really big water of anykind is, I don't think there is such a thing as to far a cast. A lot of people will tell you that you can't actually catch a fish out really far but it isn't true and it's nice to be able to hit those far spots the other guys can't reach.

For the flies you want, the Scandi or a short belly spey line are the best coices. If you want to cast bottom hand which does not go as far, use a Scxandi. If you want to bomb a cast into the next zipcode go with a short belly spey line like a Delta tactical or something.

I may a bit prejudiced here on this because I just don't like bottom hand casting. I think the reason it doesn't cast as far is not the cast itself but where it ends. You have the butt jammed in your guy and can't make the same motions I use that get me the extra distance. Well that's part of the problem. If you look at two hand distance casters, I have never seen a bottom hand caster doing it. I'm not saying I don't use my bottom hand. I probably use 35% - 40% of the cast is my bottom hand. Bottom hand casters it's 90% bottom hand.

One last note, those Trevor Morgan lines delopez mentioned are the bomb. I have several and when I talk about hitting 140' it's with a Trevor Morgan line. This is not a bad estimate on distance either. This is against a known length on something (Railroad bridge w/ 30" sections) and where I hit with the fly. It's easier to get them than it was in the past also. Thay take paypal now.